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Summary

A huge thank you to everyone who participated at 'Financing Europe's Energy Needs and Climate Action in the 21st Century', which was held in Brussels on 24th March 2010. Hosted by Barclays Capital and Fleishman-Hillard, and organised by Forum Europe, this high-level conference focused on climate action, energy security and the financial sector.

The full Conference Report is now available, with an Executive Summary and detailed contributions from each of the speakers. Please click here to download your copy.

Electronic versions of the presentations made at this event can also be downloaded by clicking on the links below:

Philip Lowe - http://www.forum-europe.com/Uploads/Philip Lowe.pdf

Sharon Bowles - http://www.forum-europe.com/Uploads/Sharon Bowles.pdf

Jos Delbeke - http://www.forum-europe.com/Uploads/Jos Delbeke.pdf

Fatih Birol - http://www.forum-europe.com/Uploads/Fatih Birol.pdf

Javier Echarri - http://www.forum-europe.com/Uploads/Javier Echarri.pdf

Andrzej Blachowicz - http://www.forum-europe.com/Uploads/Javier Echarri.pdf

Delia Villagrassa - http://www.forum-europe.com/Uploads/Delia Villagrasa.pdf 

Alternatively, to view the Twitter updates that were sent from the event throughout the day, please click here; or to click the post-event press release, please click here.

To view photos from the event, please click on the 'Photos from the event' link above.

Further Information

In support of the European Union’s efforts to achieve its ambitious emission reduction targets, more than 200 top level representatives from the financial services and energy communities came together in Brussels on 24th March for ‘Financing Europe’s Energy Needs and Climate Action in the 21st Century’ - a conference hosted by Fleishman-Hillard and Barclays Capital and organised by Forum Europe. 

The EU’s new Director General for Energy, Philip Lowe was one of the keynote speakers, and told the conference that Europe needs to spend €50bn over the next 10 years to replace its existing energy infrastructure with more sustainable alternatives.

This new energy infrastructure needs to be more interconnected and part of a true Europe-wide market, he added.

To finance the massive changes that are needed, harnessing private sector finance will be crucial but the carbon markets alone will not be enough, said Lowe. At the same time, an already risk-averse financial sector is facing a wave of regulation that will inevitably lead to lower returns. 

However, pledges made under the Copenhagen Accord "will be very difficult to deliver without cap and trade”, suggested Jos Delbeke, the new DG for Climate Change.

Many people suggest the carbon market is not working because the price is not very high, said Trevor Sikorski, head of environmental markets research, Barclays Capital. But the market reflects a level of scarcity of carbon that was set by governments shortly before “the biggest recession that hopefully any of us will ever see”. When industrial production and demand for power fell, carbon effectively became less scarce and the carbon price reflects that.

In any event, the EU is a small and declining part of the climate change problem, pointed out Fatih Birol, chief economist of the International Energy Agency – most of the growth in emissions will come from emerging markets, chiefly in Asia. Many countries around the world are already taking action to cut emissions and increase their renewable energy capacity, but they are doing it under the guise of energy security, rather than climate change, he added. 

If you would like to know more about the next Financing Europe's Energy Needs & Climate Action Conference being planned for 2011 and how you can become involved, please contact Laura McDouall on +44 (0) 2920 783 025 / laura.mcdouall@forum-europe.com